Game Day: Tomb of Horrors

Three Tomb of Horrors-related adventures

Inspired by the novel Ready Player One, I offered to run my friends through the legendary module Tomb of Horrors. Converted to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition as part of Tales from the Yawning Portal (Amazon), the module promises a lethal challenge for players both new and old. My gaming group last took a run … Read more

Game Day: Blades in the Dark

A rogue, left-side illuminated by red light, the right in shadows, stares out from the image.

Blades in the Dark is a fantasy role-playing game in which characters take on the roles of thieves in the night, planning capers and trying to survive in a ghost-haunted, ever-dark industrial city. Descended from Powered by the Apocalypse, authored by John Harper and published by Evil Hat, the game’s generated a fair amount of buzz … Read more

Game Day: Dragon Quest IX

Dragon Quest IX appears on the screen of a Nintendo DS. Nearby is a mug filled with coffee.

After 170 hours of game play over 8 years … I finally finished Dragon Quest IX’s main story. I started playing the game because I’d been searching for a good portable RPG for my Nintendo DS. My friend Cory recommended it (a big Dragon Quest fan, he’d already played through much of the Japanese version) and I was intrigued … Read more

Game Day: Ten Years Later

Role-playing book covers. Left to right: Numenera, Dragon Age, Set 2, Knights of the Old Republic, Savage Worlds, Day After Ragnarok

While revisiting the past as part of November’s RPG Carnival, I realized that Nuketown’s Game Day column debuted February 2007. I was stunned to realize I’d been writing it for over a decade, and that I’d written 110 entries in the series. That makes it the longest-running and most prolific column in the ol’thermonuclear burg’s history. There … Read more

Game Day: Let Me Tell You About My Battle Master

Blue and grey dice set on a D&D character sheet.

Odothar Bronzearm is my human battlemaster, my favorite fighter since my first-ever Dungeons & Dragons character “Battle Axe”, and the culmination of a years-long quest for a tactical warrior. Though my favorite class is wizard, I’ve played my share of fighters over the years though most of them were multi-classed (fighter/wizard, fighter/cleric, etc.). Looking back, what I wanted … Read more

Game Day: A Little Bit of Everything

The massive central eye of a beholder examines a goldfish in a bowl.

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything arrived in my mailbox last week, bringing with it a cornucopia of goodness for Dungeons & Dragons. My only complaint about the book so far is I can’t read the entire thing simultaneously. As expected the Xanathar’s Guide (Amazon) includes a ton of content that originated in Wizards of the Coast’s Unearthed Arcana columns. It’s been edited and … Read more

Game Day: Prepping for Nuke(m)Con 2017

Covers for the D&D Player's Handbook, Dungeon World, Hollow Earth Expedition, and Tales from the Yawning Portal

Nuke(m)Con 2017 is a week away and I’m scrambling to pull together my events. My gaming group’s homegrown convention is being held September 27-30 at a friends house. We expect 10-12 people to attend over the course of the weekend, but any given slot will likely have 5-6. I’m running three games: Dungeons & Dragons, … Read more

Game Day: Higher Level Thinking

A view of a D&D character sheet. A red, flame-like eye appears to the left; red and grey dice appear to the right.

My gaming group, the Blackrazor Guild, formed in 1996. Over the last 20 years we’ve created hundreds of Dungeons & Dragons characters and at least a good two dozen of those reached the left heights of “high level” adventuring. These characters spanned multiple editions of the game, but the most iconic started in 2nd Edition and were … Read more

Game Day: Campaign’s End

A close-up picture of racked and broken earth.

Broken Land, my lunchtime D&D 5th edition campaign, is ending. Begin in 2015 and consisting of 25 1-hour episodes, the campaign is about to hit it’s finale. It’s a strange sensation. I’ve run a lot of campaigns over the years, but there aren’t a lot of them that have had a true finale. Gone on … Read more